December 2012 %#-7)9;4-5;6.<:;1+-+- 767D3>GD73GA8 @H7EF;93F;A@93F;A@ December 2011 Employee Wellness May 2011 September 2001 Addressing School Violence 80 Years of Print December 2012 Volume 81 Number 12 United States Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation Washington, DC 20535-0001 Robert S. Mueller III Director Contributors’ opinions and statements Features should not be considered an endorsement by the FBI for any policy, program, or service. The attorney general has determined Vigilance Fatigue in Policing Personnel tasked with processing large that the publication of this periodical By Meredith Krause amounts of data, identifying risks, and is necessary in the transaction of the 3 responding to perceived threats can lose public business required by law. Use of funds for printing this periodical has focus as a result of information overload been approved by the director of the and performance-related pressure. Office of Management and Budget. The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Armored Car Industry Agencies have an important role in (ISSN-0014-5688) is published monthly by the Federal Bureau of Reciprocity Act and Local ensuring that armored car crew members Investigation, 935 Pennsylvania 19 carry weapons legally and as needed. Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. Law Enforcement 20535-0001. Periodicals postage paid By Jeffrey T. Wennar at Washington, D.C., and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Editor, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, FBI Academy, Quantico, VA 22135. Departments Editor John E. Ott Associate Editors 1 Bulletin History 18 Leadership Spotlight Eric A. D’Orazio Linda L. Fresh Doing the “Right Thing” David W. MacWha 12 ViCAP Alert Art Director Unidentified Female 23 Bulletin Honors Stephanie L. Lowe Columbus, Ohio, The Training Division’s 13 Police Practice Police Memorial Outreach and Communications Unit In Pursuit of Cooperation produces this publication with 24 assistance from the division’s 2012 Subject Index National Academy Unit. 16 Cover Montage Issues are available online at 27 http://www.fbi.gov. 2012 Author Index E-mail Address [email protected] Send article submissions to Editor, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, FBI Academy, Quantico, VA 22135. ISSN 0014-5688 USPS 383-310 FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin A History ince 1935 the FBI has provided information as a primary resource for disseminating informa- Son current law enforcement issues and re- tion throughout the law enforcement community. search in the field to the larger policing community through the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Just as Forties and Fifties the FBI has adapted over the years to address the After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United changing needs of the criminal justice community, States joined the Allied war effort against the the Bulletin continues changing to reach a more Axis Powers. Like all segments of society, polic- mobile and widespread audience. The current is- ing changed dramatically during the war years. sue of the Bulletin will be the final hard-copy edi- Throughout tion, ending nearly 80 years in that format. the war era, The Bulletin will continue to deliver peer- the Bulletin reviewed articles submitted by a wide range of au- provided law thorities, including subject matter experts, national enforcement security liaisons, officers and agents in the field, and legal instruction advisors. Beginning January 2013, these articles will be available exclusively online at http://www.fbi.gov. A brief history of the Bulletin explains its effort to help law enforcement officials with information professionals better understand and combat secu- related to national defense, rity threats facing the United States and protect and scientific aids, and police defend citizens. training. As the American economy expanded dur- Beginning ing the postwar years, unparalleled growth led to In October 1932 the Bu- profound changes for the law enforcement com- reau of Investigation began munity. In its pages the Bulletin addressed the publishing a monthly maga- major issues of the time, including rising levels of zine of fugitive write-ups juvenile delinquency and policing’s role in main- titled Fugitives Wanted by taining national security. Police. In October 1935 after the Bureau of Investigation Sixties and Seventies became the Federal Bureau In the 1960s the Bulletin chronicled a decade of Investigation, the publica- of intense social change. In addition to advances tion was renamed the FBI Law Enforcement Bulle- tin and added brief articles noting advances in po- lice science to its fugitive write-ups. As the 1930s continued to witness a renaissance of American policing marked by increased professionalism and growth of the forensic sciences, the Bulletin served December 2012 / 1 law enforcement administrators in more than 105 countries receive copies. Given the high “pass- around” rate of the printed copies, as well as its online presence, the Bulletin has an estimated readership of over 200,000 criminal justice professionals each month. in the forensic sci- ences, articles focused on such topics as the growing drug culture and police response to civil disturbances. During the 1970s the Bulletin featured articles that promoted the evolving em- phasis on education in policing, as well as changes in tactics and hiring practices embraced by the na- tion’s law enforcement agencies. The Bulletin has become an extension of the work of the FBI Training Division. While the FBI Eighties and Nineties hosts over 3,000 law enforcement specialists each During the 1980s the Bulletin further estab- year at the Training Academy at Quantico, many lished itself as a primary training resource for law others within the criminal justice system have enforcement administrators in agencies throughout benefited from the information shared by subject the nation and the world. During the decade, the matter experts from all aspects of the law enforce- Bulletin featured articles on a broad array of sci- ment community who have provided information entific, technological, and strategic advances that and instruction in the pages of the Bulletin. would prove to have a dramatic affect on law enforcement. In the 1990s the Bul- letin embraced new technologies to reach a wider and more diverse readership. In 1991 it became one of the first law enforcement-related publications Its mission remains strong—to inform, to go online and provide electronic versions of the educate, and broaden the criminal justice com- magazine for viewing on the Internet. munity’s understanding of current issues facing law enforcement. For 80 years the Bulletin has Today and the Future served this community and will continue to do so Today the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin re- in the challenging days ahead through its Web site, mains one of the most widely read law enforce- http//www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/ ment-related publications in the world. Each month law-enforcement-bulletin. 2 / FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Vigilance Fatigue in Policing A Critical Threat to Public Safety and Officer Well-Being By MEREDITH KRAUSE, Ph.D. © shutterstock.com n the decade since 9/11, the past decade has contributed The price of freedom is eternal terrorism has entered the to a renewed sense of security. vigilance and a willingness to act information age to chal- However, the emergence of in its defense. I lenge the work of first respond- competing crises, like the global –George P. Shultz, ers, police managers, and deci- economic crisis and domestic former U.S. Secretary of State sion makers. The attacks raised recession, has brought about a fundamental questions about reexamination of the sustain- America’s safety and resulted ability, credibility, and utility in a renewed focus on domes- of many post-9/11 security tic security. In turn it fostered strategies. While this effort has an emphasis on proactive and attempted to balance security preventive, rather than reactive, needs with the limitations posed strategies to combat terrorist by budgets, legal requirements, threats. public support, and threats to The absence of a subsequent U.S. interests, it has overlooked major attack on U.S. soil over a critical risk to effective threat December 2012 / 3 analysis and management. This A comprehensive review of recognizes the ways in which phenomenon is described best medical, law enforcement, and attention, situational awareness, as “vigilance fatigue,” or the business literature reveals only and decision-making processes failure to accurately perceive, passing acknowledgements of affect the concept’s functional- identify, or analyze bona fide this concept. The few existing ity. These attentional resources threats due to 1) prolonged references associate vigilance include capacity for selective exposure to ambiguous, un- fatigue with errors in decision attention and alternating atten- specified, and ubiquitous threat making due to physical fatigue tion, often limited by working information; 2) information or “change blindness,” de- memory abilities and the pres- overload; 3) overwhelming scribed as a failure to recognize ence of distractions. A model pressure to maintain exception- data changes because of con- of sustained vigilance (figure 1) al, error-free performance; and tinual scanning by eye.2 While also points to the ways in which 4) faulty strategies for structur- the concept of vigilance fatigue cognitive biases and reliance ing informed decision making proves worthy of further devel- upon heuristics may degrade under conditions of uncertainty opment, its complexity and rel- vigilance and jeopardize accurate and stress.1 evance to policing, intelligence, threat detection and assessment, and military operations have yet especially when someone faces DEFINING THE to be explored. excessive or questionable CONCEPT A full definition of vigilance information.3 Vigilance fatigue threat- fatigue must consider an ar- ens persons and organizations ray of closely associated skills, DESCRIBING AND tasked with processing large abilities, and behaviors, all of UNDERSTANDING amounts of data, identify- which contribute to a capac- VIGILANCE FATIGUE ing risks or irregularities, and ity for sustained vigilance in A range of factors contribute responding to perceived threats.